DWI / State v. A.S.

Client was on his way home from work and stopped to see some friends. Burning the candle at both ends, he fell asleep at Chimney Rock and Westheimer light. He was woken up by the police and began crying immediately and asking to go home. He was very emotional as this brought great shame on him and his whole family. He tried to perform the standard field sobriety tests, but couldn’t through his emotions. He was arrested and they drew his blood. The issue was that although he was around twice the legal limit, we didn’t know what he was at the time of driving. Texas is an at the time of driving state and the DAs could not prove if he was over a 0.08 at the time of driving. The jury understood and it was a hard decision, which they ultimately could not come to. In the end the jury hung. The DAs offered some classes and AAs and dismissed his case. Sometimes not every case can reach a verdict, but I’m proud of those jurors who understood the law and remained true to their reasonable doubt. What a stuck jury should never do is err on the side of guilt. Whether it’s a jury of 6 or 12 people, if just one juror has a doubt, then the State didn’t prove their case and the default must be a Not Guilty verdict. If a jury is hung then they should either stay hung or err on the side of freedom.